Assignment: Other void marriages Article 41 Grounds for Annulment (45 and 46) Consequences of

Declaration of Annulment Legal Separation (grounds and defenses)

Previous discussion: CIVIL LAW REV1 ( Atty. Turingan )

Intrinsic validity

a. Lex Nationalii

The new Civil Code of the Philippines provides for the application of the nationality principle on
significant issues in family law: “Article 15. Laws relating to family rights and duties, or to the status,
condition and legal capacity of persons are binding upon citizens of the Philippines, even though living
abroad.”

The municipal laws of each State specify the rules governing marriage and its termination, and
the rights and duties of members of the family. For the Philippines, the substantive requirements for a
valid marriage are found in Article 2 of the Family Code. These essential elements of marriage are: (1)
legal capacity of the contracting parties who must be a male and a female; and (2) consent freely given
in the presence of the solemnizing officer. Legal capacity to marry means that the parties entering into
the marriage must be at least 18 years of age, that one party is a female and the other a male, and that
neither is barred by any impediment to marry the other. The second substantive requisite is consent
freely given by the parties in the presence of an authorized solemnizing officer.

Take for example, a marriage between two 17-year old Filipinos that is celebrated in Canada
where the minimum age of marriage is 16. Although such marriage is in accordance with Article 139 of
the new Civil Code of 2014 of Canada, the lex loci celebrationis, it will not be recognized as valid in the
Philippines, which follows the lex nationalii. Given that Article 15 of the Philippine Civil Code states that
Filipino citizens are bound by laws on “status, condition and legal capacity”, it is Philippine law that sets
18 as the minimum age of marriage,12 not Canadian law, that determines who are legally capacitated to
marry.

The exceptions to the lex loci celebrationis rule, found in Article 71 of the Civil Code of the
Philippines, are marriages that are bigamous, polygamous or incestuous. However, Article 26 of the
Family Code, the law in force to this day, expanded these exceptions.13 Thus, a marriage, although valid
in the foreign country where it was celebrated, will be void in the Philippines if: (a) either or both parties
are below 18 years of age;14 (b) it is bigamous or polygamous;15 (c) a subsequent marriage is
performed without recording in the Civil Registry and Registry of Properties the Judgment of annulment
or declaration of nullity of the first marriage, the partition and distribution of the properties of the
spouses and the delivery of the children's presumptive legitimes;16 (d) there was mistake as to the
identity of the contracting party;17 (e) one of the parties was psychologically incapacitated to comply
with the essential marital obligations;18 (f) the marriage is incestuous;19 or (g) the marriage is void by
reason of public policy.